Advanced Exercises

Life creates more and more difficult circumstances for keeping the right optical habits. Nowadays young people in their twenties wear already glasses or contact lenses in case of half dioptre. This is a kind of endemic, which can be successfully treated just like overweight, smoking or hypertension problems. In this subject-matter, those make the right decisions that prefer reducing the eyesight problems instead of trying to achieve the perfect vision. The evolution is "false" and not the eyetraining. Step by step, the evolution takes away from us that we don't use in our common life and improves our needs. It is no use fighting against evolution, but it is wise trying to reduce its hurtfulness.

An average eyesight attention is not enough for those who would like a fast and distinct improvement. They must strictly keep to Dr Bates' instructions (the original Bates' work has not been translated into Hungarian yet, but if you click to the underlined name you can read the whole English version).

I suggest that children should start their eyesight training while on holiday. Grownups should make the final decision when they are on holiday, or sick leave, or just not having a lot of work to do. It is worth beginning training the eyesight before ordering the first pair of glasses. One must stop definitely wearing glasses, if he or she would like to stop with the eye problem or improve his or her vision. During the first period we are not able to drive a car, or to work as a cashier p.ex., but the mechanician type work is also should be impossible with responsibility without glasses. One cannot read properly or see the right change at the cash-desk too. Hence the sooner the better we adjust ourselves to this new way of life, a life without glasses or contact lenses.

One or two hours of training a day is not much as well, and it shouldn't be done continuously. You must admit that one or two hours of seeing is not enough, just like in case of heart beating or lung function.(Please have a look at the collection of links, where you can find the inland and international visual improving centers, societies and individual works. You can download tests for the eye or original books by Bates, etc.)

Reading

For training you must get a vision test, or download one here We can also have cutout letters or numbers, etc., or we can make a chart by word processing unit of our computer. Those who miss the colours (click here!).

We must have a good light 3-500/1000 W. iodine lamp. We should start reading the lines by pendulating our vision, – with the head – which means looking to the right and to the left. From side to side. Always begin with noticeable lines. One must see letters the most sharply no matter the distance. After 10-15 pendular movements, we see the line more and more clearly. You must not do the proper reading, just look gently over the letters. We must pay attention to regular blinking. Each line, letter seems that goes the opposite direction. Then close your eyes and repeat the same exercise mentally. We should see more clearly again for a few seconds. After two or three weeks these flash-like, clear moments will appear to us not only after having done the exercises, but also in every part of the day. The more we do the exercises, the clearer the moments will be. Do the exercises first with one eye, then with the other one, and finally with both. If your eyes are not alike then you should repeat the exercise more with your weak eye.

The improvement of vision does not follow logic. No one can expect that his or her dioptre will decrease. Dioptre is the amplitude of momentary stress, that exists in the eyes, and, which continuously changes. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse. And this goes on until our mind learns the right, perfect way finally.

Following this logic, we might say that the doctor measures in dioptres the extent of the present stress. We can also figure out easily the extent of our stress. If our vision is good, then we are free of any stress and we can read the bottom line of the eye chart. Each vision test contains an official datum line by line, showing us the limit from where those with good vision must see clearly the signs. The measurement is given in meters or feet (one foot is equal to thirty-two centimeters). The fewer we can see the more the stress is.

We might see one or two letters of the last lines (with our new flash like mood) after two or three weeks. But we might be disappointed for month in not seeing clearly and continously the biggest letters too. But the eyes become more and more better. There is a distinct improvement in case of those people, who have 15-20 dioptres, who are blind but can see a little, or have serious retinae trouble, no matter how old is the problem. Change is noticeable even if we don't aim perfect seeing with this category.

Practice with very small letters might seem very contradictive. Our parents, school and medicine are against such things as: looking toward the sun, reading very small letters, reading closer than 30 cm in the school, reading in the half-lighted room or in the moonlight. Take an advertisement and keep it at a distance where you have the sharpest rows without glasses. Use a lamp with a strong light. Myopic people are going to see the lines maybe at a distance of 10 centimeters, while those who wear magnifying glasses can read only approximately the lines. Now start "looking" at the line by moving your eyes as well as your head from side to side. Don't read just blink and leave your eyes move easily. After a while the lines will become more vivid, or maybe a few letters will flesh into our mind and then just disappear. Myopic people are going to have a different experience. After a minute or two they will be able to read the lines at a greater distance. Practice for 5-10 minutes. Then, later, practice as much as you can. If the acute picture is too close to our vision, then seeing well with both eyes is impossible, so you must work with both eyes separately Soon you will get good results. Even the cockeyed people or crossed-eyes problems and others with severe cases will notice some non predictable improvement. The crossed eye will straighten, the room will become lighter, colours will be brighter and one will be able to read more and more. Even those who mixed up the colours, now, will be able to see more precise ones.

Print a text with very small letters by using the computer. I'm referring to letters size 2-3, that are not current, and appear on the screen as a line only. Maybe use a laser printer or a better bubble jet ink printer. Start practicing "reading". Don't forget to repeat this with closing your eyes and covering them as well while doing the exercises. This way you will be able to repeat them in your imagination as well. In case of necessity, move your head too. Practice is effective if each line or letter seems moving in an opposite sense to our eye or our head. It is an amusement too if you might practice with a bank note, because there are a lot of minuscule letters on it. If we illuminate it properly, or take it outside, we might discover something on it.

We must pendulate our eyes not only while reading, but also when looking at objects in the distance. Look out of the window and look at the lines of chimneys or aerials in front of you. Just glide your sight from side to side over these lines of objects not wishing to see the things clearly. So do with the lamp posts, with the rows of the cars` wheels are parking in front of us, or with anything we are practiseing at. Pendulate your eyes and blink more often than usual. After a week or two the pictures will become somehow more vivid. You must repeat this exercise with your eyes closed (or closed and covered) so that your memory becomes sharper. You see, vision is a series of right pictures in your mind (as seen above).

Always choose that exercise, which gives you good results immediately. Maybe looking at letters is good for two weeks, but then it is not good at all. In this case we should look for another, more suitable exercise. Sometimes just memorizing the letters is good and the others are useless.

I haven't spoken about the training of a chosen letter or number yet. Choose a sign/letter/number from your well lighted eye chart ore from any auxiliary material. Memorize each aspect of it as described above. We look at each part of the sign – density, curvature, top-, bottom parts, whiteness of the background, blackness etc. – while blinking continuously. Then we close our eyes – or we close and cover them at the same time, and we evoke the whole process. Later, when we see our sign more clearly in real life and the memory evocation is also better, we can choose a smaller or a more distant sign.

It is very efficient if we use two charts alike. Hold one chart in your hand, a reduced copy one, choose a letter from it, then try to find it on the other one, which has been previously hung on the wall. Soon we can see the distant sign more clearly. The reading glasses-patients (the presbyops) must do this practice on the contrary way as they can`t see the closer eye chart charply.

Another exercise is, when we cover our eyes for a longer period of time. Fancy a letter, a number or a sign. Memorize it as long as you can, considering all its aspects. The sign should be as black or blacker(!) as the original one. The background paper should be as white in our memory as the snow in the sunshine or the slacked lime. Reaching a perfect memory means that we have achieved a perfect relaxation. In this case our vision will be perfect again. The perfect vision is the result of a long, tolerant training. Don't think that eye training will give you lasting results in a short period of time, especially if you have been wearing glasses. No permanent improvement will be seen, if you put on your glasses again. As a matter of fact, glasses bind stress not letting your eyes to relax.

Sun and light bathing

If your intentions are serious, than you must to get used to working with strong and natural light. Each book about eye training includes sun and light bathing. But they exaggerate the harmful effects. It is impossible to achieve good results because of the retrograde points of view. Just think, nearly one hundred years ago people worked outside in total sunshine. No one thought of wearing glasses, sunglasses. They wore straw-hat and headscarf only for protecting their head and not for protecting their eyes. (Nowadays among the "nature-close" tribes one can`t see sunglasses or visor even under the equator).

Procure very strong halogen lamp. I suggest you to put iodine lamp one can use above the gates (without a motion detector). The efficiency of these lights is only 3-500 W, which is quite small as compared to the sunlight. But they are good for evening or twilight in winter. (I use 2X1000 W.)

Sit down in front of the lamp, close your eyes and slowly move your head to the right and to the left. Then blink rapidly and look under or above the lamp for a few seconds, just to get used to the strong light. We must learn then how to lift the eye-lid gently while looking down continuously so that only your white of the eye can be seen. As soon as you have learned this, sit in front of the lamp, and, now looking into the light, do the exercise for a few moments. Your eyes will be filled with tears, but soon you will get used to it. Those people, who have been previously wearing glasses, won't be sensible to light anymore. Then train both eyes in strong light at the same time. Move your head to side to side. Soon you will be able to light the white of your eye for even ten seconds. Have a rest, then go on with the training and repeat it 3 or 5 times. Soon children will be successful because they enjoy this zombie-like activity. After the exercise we always get a distinct picture for a few minutes and we can check this on our vision test. The distinct picture will last longer if first our eye has a light bathing and then the letter training follows. You may continue training by covering your eye. In this case you are going to get a perfect black colour later, because the after-effect of strong light lasts longer. But this black colour will be darker and clearer, which relaxes better the eye.

As soon as training the white of your eye in artificial light works, you must move in sunlight. Start in the morning or at sunset training one eye then the other one. Be very careful because sunlight is much stronger than 500W. Just a few seconds will be enough. Gradually you may raise the number of moments and soon the white of your eye will get used to the rising and setting sun. Don't lift your head too much if you feel that the sunlight is too strong or if you do the training at noon. Later you will be able to do the exercise in these situations as well. Take your eyes in turns and raise the number of moments. In a month or two reading and the clear pictures will seem natural to you. You are not going to need the sunglasses anymore. Sun bathing both eyes at the same time needs a careful preparation. The impulses that you get through the white of your eyes are very strong, especially if they fall to the most sensible part of your eye-the macula centralis-, to the vision. It's very interesting that the veins from the eyeground appear. They remind us of the roots of a tree or the cracks of a dried up land. If you bend your head downwards a little, the strength of the light will become weaker. Bend your head and raise it gently, so that your eyes get used to the changing light. The light that falls on the white of the eye will not do any harm. If, by accident, you look into the sun directly will not give you any problems. Yellowish or grayish spots might appear for 5 or 10 minutes, but soon they will be gone. Each yoga book suggests looking into the rising or setting sun. No one has complained about it so far, although yoga is about 4000 years old. How could anyone look into the sun deliberately for a long time and harm his or her eyes? In spite of the strong sun, the original work writes about treating the eyes with magnifying lens too. Of course, you must move the lens constantly, and one can get very good results with it. Look for it on the internet! Chapter XVII, page 191 shows us a photo where dr. Bates is treating a patient with burn glasses. Try this on your own responsibility! Always remember: "be careful with sun bathing your eyes!"

Finally:

That patient, who progresses with the exercises, soon will be able to see quite well and the exercises will be adapted into the every day`s life. He or she goes out in good lighting conditions goes shopping, and takes the glasses only for an emergency case. Then you must try going out in the evening and face the artificial lights in the street, in the underground or at the amusement places, experiencing all these without your glasses. Next you may start reading by a reading lamp (60W), in the shade or in semi-darkness, which is followed by going out and experiencing the things around the house, the street, etc. You must train your eyes in a familiar surrounding at first and expending your experimental ground gradually. Many people, who have week eyesight, first go out with assistance, even in sunlight. Without any glasses. People with minus 20 dioptres, as well as those with 3 dioptres will be timid in the underground passages.

They can't see clearly the depth and the edge of the steps or the faces of the people, etc. If you don't get any help from your family, then the situation is more serious. But one must not give up. The properly prepared and hard work will give you quick results, and the adaptation for the every day`s life will be easier even if the circumstances are worse. (at night, in the undercrossing, after sunset in winter, in a half lighted space, etc). It doesn't matter that you don't recognize your neighbour or you don't greet your chief. Whoever has made up his or her mind, will know how to handle this problem too. Trust yourself! You know more than you think! You are the only one, who should follow this road, no matter how difficult or long it is. Just hold on! Don't give up! This is a gentle system. You are going to see better, your vision will not get worse. (The effects of deterioration will also lessen in other respects too: hearing, smelling, dyscalculia, dyslexia, stammering, etc. See above).

Some people will be totally healed. One should not be afraid of the relapse. Even the eye-specialist will be amazed of the good results although he won`t be able to accept that the eye refractions problems are curable. (Don't worry, we are alone on our way, nobody cures instead of us. So did dr. W.H. Bates the well-known eye specialist in New York in his time, after he had had thirty years of experiences and after he had trated thausands of cases with his system).

Vén Péter, an official Hungarian eye trainer, wishes you good luck from Budapest. I am ready to answer your questions.